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How to add a new post 48 How to edit an existing post 51 How to delete a post 53 Categories & tags 55 Post categories 55 Post tags 56 Custom menus 58 Introduction 58 How to create a custom menu 58 How to attach your custom menu to your theme 59 Add custom links, pages and categories to your menu 59 How to change the order of the menu items? 60 How to create a submenu? 61 How to remove a menu item? 61 User management 63 Introduction 63 The 5 different roles in WordPress 63 How to add a new user 63 Tip: create at least 2 user accounts 64 How to extend the basic user management? 64 WordPress Themes 65 How WordPress themes work 65 There’s a lot of choice out there! 65 Installing a theme 66WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 3

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Widgets 69 What’s a widget? 69 Examples 69 How to activate a widget? 69 Plugins 70 What’s a plugin? 70 Find a plugin 70 How to install a plugin? 70 How to conﬁgure a plugin 72 My favourite plugins 72 How to conﬁgure WordPress as a CMS 75 What is a CMS? 75 Congﬁguring WordPress as a CMS 75 Installing the “White Label CMS” plugin 76 WordPress security 77 Introduction 77 WordPress basic security principles 77 Taking WordPress security to another level with the help of some plugins 78 Securing WordPress like a pro 78 More WordPress security 79 Recommended books 80 What’s next? 83 5 most popular articles on WPBrix.com 83 Interesting links 83WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 4

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Contribute to WPBrix.com with a guest post! 83 A ﬁnal word... 84WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 5

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WordPress for BeginnersUsage of this guide• You can use this guide for free• It’s forbidden to sell this guide• It’s forbidden to copy (parts of) this guide and redistribute it as your own guide• It’s forbidden to use this guide in a commercial learning environment (commercial training) without my permission.• If you’re a teacher at a school, college, university college or university, it’s no problem to use this guide in your lessons and to distribute this (complete) guide to your students. But I would apprciate it if you let me know if you use it in your lessons, because that gives me a good insight on how this guide is used.• The author is not responsible for any errors, mistakes, any loss of proﬁt or any other commercial damage.• When using this guide, you agree that some links can be afﬁliated (you’ll ﬁnd more information about this in the following part “Afﬁliate links”).Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact me through the contact form on WPBrix.com.Afﬁliate linksThis guide contains afﬁliate links. This means, when you click on one of those links and buy a productor service on the site where I linked to, I receive a small commission on that sale.I only included afﬁliate links to products I use(d) myself. If you feel I’ve included an afﬁliate link to aproduct or service that’s not worth it, please let me know through the contact form!When using this guide, you agree that some links can be afﬁliated. The proﬁt made through theseafﬁliate sales are used to make wpbrix.com better. If you like what you read, then this is a way tosupport me.Who should read this guide?I’ve written this guide for both beginners and non-tech WordPress users.WordPress is great software for building blogs and sites. Allthough there’s a full documented Codex,it’s missing a simple guide for beginners.If you just started using WordPress, or if you’re thinking about using WordPress, then this guide isfor you. WordPress for Beginners covers all the basics you need to get started right now!WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 6

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On the other hand, you can also use this guide as a reference. If you have a particular problem orquestion, just jump to the part you need.What’s covered?InstallationIn this part we’re going to take a look at what you need to host a WordPress blog or site. You’ll alsolearn how to install WordPress step by step.Getting to Know the DashboardOnce you’ve installed WordPress, I’ll explain you the difference between the front end and the backend. You’ll also see how to get access to the back end, where you can manage your WordPressinstallation and your content.Conﬁguring WordPressIn this part you’ll get an overview of the basic conﬁguration settings of your WordPress installation.The Basics of WordPressHere you’ll learn something more about the basics of WordPress. First, I’ll show you how theWYSIWYG editor works. Next to that, you’ll see how to insert a hyperlink, an image and how to link toa document.Handling mediaSince WordPress 3.5, the way to insert images and documents changed a little bit. In this part I’llshow you how to insert images and documents (pdf, text document,...).PagesPages are perfect for information that doesn’t change a lot. In this part you’ll learn all about pagemanagement: adding, editing and deleting pages.PostsPosts are the basis for blogging. They are used for adding news (articles). The most recent postsappear on top. In this part you’ll learn more about post management: adding, editing and deletingposts.Taxonomies: tags and categoriesTags and categories are an essential part of blogging in WordPress. In this part of the guide, you’lllearn what tags and categories are, and how to use them.Custom MenusIn this part you’ll see how easy it is to set up and use your own custom menu, and why you shoulduse this.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 7

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User ManagementThis part is all about user managment. You’ll learn more about the different user roles, and also howto manage your users.WordPress ThemesThis is the part where it’s getting fun! I’ll show you where you can ﬁnd great themes, both free andpaid (bur for a reasonable price). You’ll also see how easy it is to install a WordPress theme and tochange the layout of your blog or site.WidgetsIn this part you’ll learn what a widget is, and how to use them. Widgets are great for personalisingyour blog.PluginsWith plugins you can extend the functionalities of your WordPress blog or site. Plugins can be verypowerful. Most plugins are free, but there are also some great commercial (premium) plugins. In thispart I’ll show you where and how you can ﬁnd the best plugins, and how you can easily install andactivate a plugin. You’ll also get to know which plugins I use for my blogs and sites.How to conﬁgure WordPress as a CMSBecause WordPress is also a very popular CMS, I’ll show you how you can easily conﬁgureWordPress as a CMS.WordPress securitySecurity is a very important part of managing a blog or site. In this part you’ll learn some simple tipsand plugins to enhance WordPress security.Recommended BooksIn this part I’ll sum up some interesting books I read myself and of which I think they could beinteresting for you too. It’s not only about WordPress, but also about blogging and SEO.About the authorHi, my name is Nico Julius (@NicoJulius) and I’ve been creating websites for over 13 years now.I studied to become a teacher and graduated in 2002. After my graduation, I started working in abank where I wrote applications in MS Access and MS Excel.After 3 years I quit my job to start at a university college where I helped developing the digital learningenvironment and training the staff. In this period, I also started to create PHP-MySQL applications.I’ve worked there for 4 years.Today, I’m a full time web developer, developing PHP-MySQL applications. I also run a small companythat creates websites running on WordPress. In the free time that’s left I’m sharing my thoughts andexperiences about WordPress and blogging on my blog wpbrix.com.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 8

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About this guideAfter reading this guide, you’ll be able to create your own blog or CMS-driven site with WordPress.Allthough not every aspect of WordPress is described in detail, I enclosed enough links so you’ll knowwhere to ﬁnd the right information.Please note that much of this publication is based on personal experience. The author is notresponsible for any errors, mistakes, any loss of proﬁt or any other commercial damage.Download the most recent version of this guide for free at:www.wpbrix.com/wordpress-for-beginners-tutorial/Where to ﬁnd help?For most of your questions, the ofﬁcial WordPress forum is a great place to ﬁnd information or to aska question. You can ﬁnd this forum at:www.wordpress.org/forumsIf you have questions about a commercial theme or plugin, it’s better to ﬁrst contact the author. Someof the authors have their own forum, some of them also use the ofﬁcial WordPress forum.Your feedback is of great value!When you’re reading this guide and:• you found an error;• something is not clear to you;• you feel there’s something missing,please do not hesitate to contact me through the contact form!Your feedback is very valuable to me in order to make this free guide better!WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 9

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IntroductionWordPress.com vs WordPress.orgIf youre thinking about starting a Wordpress blog, you probably noticed there are 2 versions ofWordPress: WordPress.com and WordPress.org. So, which one should you choose? That dependson your requirements. Lets take a closer look!WordPress.comWordPress.com is a better option when you dont want to host your blog yourself.WordPress.com will host your blog and this is really the best way to enjoy blogging for free. If youwish to be launched and established with a WordPress blog as fast as possible and with minimalwork or cost, then WordPress.com is an excellent choice.But there are certain limitations with this option. A WordPress.com site is hard to customize (limitedchoice of themes and functionalities) and you cant include your own ads. This will make it a pooroption if youre planning to make money with your blog.A last thing you have to keep in mind is that you dont own the blog, but WordPress does. They canend your blog at any time if your blog doesnt meet there policy.WordPress.orgWordPress.org is much more ﬂexible, but it comes with a cost: you need a domain name and webhosting to host your blog. On the other hand, this isnt a big cost. Hosting fees start at a couple ofdollars a month.Using this method gives you much more freedom: you can use the theme of your choice and extendyour blog with a choice of plugins, adding a lot more functionality to your blog.If youre planning to create a company blog or site, then you should go for this option.In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use the selfhosted version of WordPress (= WordPress.org).Why choose WordPress?• open source software• easy to use• ﬂexible• used worldwide• constantly in developmentOpen source softwareWordPress is open source software. This means that you don’t have to pay a license or you don’thave to pay to use it.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 10

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Easy to useWordPress is easy to use. Not only it’s simple to install and to conﬁgure, you also don’t need anytechnical knowledge to create and to maintain the content.FlexibleBecause WordPress is a ﬂexible platform, it’s easy to suit your needs. The default conﬁgurationcontains the basics, but you also can extend WordPress with a lot of interesting and powerful plugins.Used worldwideWordPress is used worldwide; thousands of blogs and websites run on the WordPress platform.Depending on the source, it’s reported that 8 to 12% of the websites worldwide are running onWordPress!!Constantly in developmentA lot of developers work together to constantly make WordPress better.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 11

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InstallationPreparationBefore starting to install WordPress, you need a couple of things:• A domain name and web hosting• WordPress softwareA domain name and web hostingThe ﬁrst step is choosing a domain name (www.mydomain.com) and web hosting. There are a lot ofsorts of web hosting. In most cases the registration of the domain name is included with the webhosting. If you’re just starting with WordPress, then I advise you to go for shared webhosting. At any time, you’ll be able to move your blog to another web host if you need more power.Examples of great companies offering shared hosting are Dreamhost and Hostgator. They are bothone of the cheapest solutions around and they offer hosting AND support of very good quality!If you’re building a professional blog or website for a lot of visitors that has to be fast, then you mightalso consider managed WordPress hosting like WPEngine. WPBrix.com also runs on WPEngineand I’m very happy with there fast and professional hosting, service and support!For more information, reviews and speed tests of web hosting, please check wpbrix.com/hosting/WordPress softwareYou can download WordPress for free at www.wordpress.org.Step by step installationWordPress is famous for its “5 minutes installation” (sounds great, isn’t it?)Step 1: Upload the WordPress softwareAfter you downloaded WordPress and unpacked the zip ﬁle, you have to upload WordPress throughFTP to your web hosting. Normally you don’t have to create an extra folder, unless you wantWordPress to be installed in a subfolder.If you’re new to FTP, be sure to read this short FTP tutorial on wpbrix.com.Step 2: Start the installationIn your web browser, visit the url where you installed WordPress. In most cases this will be somethinglike http://www.yourdomain.com.Step 3: Create a conﬁguration ﬁleIn this screen you’ll see next message:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 12

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Click the “Create a Conﬁguration File” button.It’s possible that WordPress can’t create the conﬁguration ﬁle. When you experience this problem,search for wp-conﬁg-sample.php on your web space. Just make a copy of wp-conﬁg-sample.phpand rename it to wp-conﬁg.php. Now try again.Step 4: Welcome messageThe next screen is a welcome message. It also reminds you to the fact that you need all theinformation you got from your web host.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 13

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Step 5: Fill In The Database Connection DetailsIn the following screen you need to ﬁll in the database connection details:The following ﬁelds have to be ﬁlled in:• Database Name: the name of your database• User name: the MySQL username• Password: the MySQL password• Database Host: by default this is localhost (only change this if you have anoter database server from your web host)• Table Preﬁx: by default this is “wp_” but for security reasons it’s better to ﬁll in another table preﬁx.Click the “Submit” button to proceed.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 14

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If you see this screen, your database connection details are ok:Click the “Run the install” button to start the installation of WordPressStep 6: ﬁll in the basic informationIn the following screen you have to ﬁll in some basic informationWordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 15

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• Site title: ﬁll in the title of your blog or website.• Username: choose a username. By default “admin” is ﬁlled in but for security reasons I advise you to choose another username. This makes it harder for hackers to guess your administrator username.• Password, twice: ﬁll in a password. For security reasons, pick a strong password that’s not easy to guess!!• Your E-mail: ﬁll in a valid e-mail.• Allow my site to appear in search engines like Google and Technorati: select this so your website can be found and indexed by search engines.Click the “Install WordPress” button after you ﬁlled in the needed information.Step 7: installation completedThat’s it!Click the “Log In” button to get access to the back ofﬁce where you can manage WordPress.Web host with a pre-installed version of WordPressAs you can see, installing WordPress is very easy. But there are some companies offering web hostingwith a WordPress 1-click-installation. This makes it even easier to install WordPress!Another option is managed WordPress hosting. In this case, WordPress will already be installed,together with a selection of plugins.Updating WordPress When there’s a new version of WordPress available, you’ll see this message on topWordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 16

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of your pages (only in the back-end!).Click the “Please update now” link and follow the following steps to update your site. If you need moreinformation, read this article on my blog wpbrix.com about updating WordPress.More informationCheck out the WordPress Codex for more information about the installation of WordPress:codex.wordpress.orgIf you have a question or if you need help, check out the Ofﬁctial WordPress forum:wordpress.org/support/WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 17

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Getting to know the dashboardFront end / back endFront endThe front end is the part of your blog or website your visitors can see.Back endThe Back end is the part where you can log in and manage your blog. This is the CMS (ContentManagement System) part. Here you can add, edit and delete content. It’s also the place to fullyconﬁgure your blog.Log in (to get access to the back end)You have to log in to get access to the back end (the part where you can manage your blog).You can log in through http://www.yourdomain.com/wp-login.php. Now you’ll see the followingscreen:Here you have to ﬁll in your username and your password. Click the “Log in” button. After you loggedin, you’ll see the back end of your blog:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 18

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The upper part is a welcome message helping you to start with WordPress. To remove this messagefrom the dashboard, click the “Dismiss” link right above or the “Dismiss this message” link on thebottom.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 19

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Conﬁguring WordPress (Settings)General SettingsYou can ﬁnd the general settings through “Settings” > “General” in the left menu. In this screen youcan conﬁgure the basics of your site setup.• Site Title: here you can ﬁll in the title of your site / blog.• Tagline: in a few words, explain what your site / blog is about.• WordPress address (url): here you ﬁnd the url of your site / blog. Be careful when you change this!• Site address: for regular installations, you can leave this ﬁeld blank.• E-mail address: this address is used for admin purposes, like new user notiﬁcation.• Membership: can everyone register to your site / blog?• New User Default Role: what’s the role of new users (IF they can register)? Select “Subscriber” here. Users with more experience can also select another default role here.• Timezone: select your timezone.• Date Format: select a date format.• Time Format: select a time format.• Week starts on: select the ﬁrst day of the week.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 20

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Writing SettingsYou’ll ﬁnd the “Writing Settings” page through “Settings” > “Writing” in the left menuFor now, only 1 settings is important: Default Post Category. Here you can choose the default postcategory. But you’ll ﬁrst need to create other categories (you’ll learn this later in this tutorial).WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 21

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Reading SettingsSelect “Settings” > “Reading” in the left menu:An interesting option here is “Front page displays”. Here you can choose what will be shown on yourfront page. If you want to use WordPress as a website, select “a static page” and pick a page toact as your frontpage. And just like the front page, you can also select another posts page.Don’t forget, these pages have to be existing pages, so you have to create them before you canselect them.Discussion SettingsYou’ll ﬁnd the Discussions Settings page through “Settings” > “Discussion” in the left menu. On thispage you’ll retrieve the settings for several options. Let’s take a look!This part is important for bloggers. If you’re planning to use WordPress as a CMS, this part is lessimportant.Default Article Settings• Attempt to notify any blogs linked to from the article: if you publish an article with links to other blogs in it, your blog will try to notify those other blogs to “tell” them you linked to them (and you published an article). This will result in a automatic comment on that blog (only when you checked this option).• Allow link notiﬁcations from other blogs: when other blogs link to you and they notify you, they’ll place an automatic comment. Uncheck this setting to not publish these comments (I always uncheck these setting).• Allow people to post comments on new articles: give your visitors the possibility to write a comment under your article.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 22

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Other Comment Settings• Comment author must ﬁll in name and e-mail: when someone leaves a comment, he or she must ﬁll in a name and email address.• Users must be registered and logged in to comment: if you check this option, readers ﬁrst have to log in before they can place a comment. For most blogs, it’s better not to check this option.• Automatically close comments on articles older then XX days: when you check this option, your visitors will not be able to place comments after XX days. If you check this option, be sure to leave enough time for your readers to place a comment. 14 days is way to short. On my blog, I have topics of over 6 months old, and still a lot of readers are placing comments!• Enable threaded (nested) comments X levels deep: checking this option makes it easier to read comments on other comments. So be sure to check this option, the default of 5 levels should be enough.• Break comments into pages with XX top level comments per page and the last page displayed by default: this could be interesting if you have a VERY popular blog with a lot of comments. This means that WordPress will split articles with more then XX top level comments in multiple pages.• Comments should be displayed with the older / newer comments at the top of the page: here you can select older / newer to choose how to sort your comments. Note that most bloggers choose to display the newer comments on top.E-mail me whenever• Anyone posts a comment: when checked, you’ll receive an e-mail when someone places a new comment.• A comment is held for moderation: if checked, you’ll receive an e-mail when someone places a new comment that’s held for moderation.I advise you to check these both because if you have a lot of articles. This is the easiest way to followup the (new) comments.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 23

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Before a comment appears• An administrator must always approve the comment: when someone places a new comment, an administrator always has to approve this comment.• Comment author must have a previously approved comment: when someone places a ﬁrst comment, you’ll have to approve this comment. After that, comments of that user will show up without any approvel.• Comment moderation: Hold a comment in the queue if it contains a certain amount of links (deﬁned by you). You also have a ﬁeld where you can ﬁll in words. Fill in one word per line. When a comment contains those words, it will be held in the moderation queue.• Comment blacklist: In this ﬁeld you can ﬁll in words. Fill in one word or ip per line. When a comment contains those words, it will be marked as spam.• Avatars: An avatar is an image that follows you from weblog to weblog appearing beside your name when you comment on avatar enabled sites. Here you can enable the display of avatars for people who comment on your site.Media SettingsYou’ll ﬁnd the Media Settings page through “Settings” > “Media” in the left menu. Here you canconﬁgure some default settings for media (especially images) you upload. For most of you, the basicsettings are just ﬁne.PermalinksYou’ll ﬁnd the Permalinks Settings page through “Settings” > “Permalinks” in the left menu. Here youcan choose how the url of your blog or website will look like.I advise you to change this because this is important for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).Out of the box WordPress generates urls like:http://www.mysite.com/?p=123If you turn on Permalinks, it’s possible to generate urls like this:http://www.mysite.com/about-us/As you can see, in the url of the second example we can read what the page is about. This is alsovery important for search engines because they also index page urls. Words in the page url areconsidered as important, which is good for SEO.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 24

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Which one to choose? The general rule is, if you’re writing evergreen content then choose the option“Post name”. Otherwise it’s better to choose for “Day and name” or “Month and name”. For examplefor my blog WordPressNinja.Com I chose “Month and name”.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 25

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Button Function insert the “more” tag spell checker WYSIWYG-editor in full screen show / hide the kitchen sink (show more / less buttons) format the selected text / paragraph undeline selected text align full select text color paste copied text from another application as plain text (text without formatting) paste copied text from Word remove formatting from the selected text insert a custom character outdent selected paragraph indent selected paragraph undo redo help function insert mediaHyperlinksHow To Insert a Hyperlink?• Select the text you want to turn into a hyperlink• In the menu, click on the -button (Insert / edit link)WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 27

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• The following popup appears:• If you want to link to an external page: • Fill in the full url (including “http://”) of that page in the ﬁeld “URL”. • Enter a short description in the “Title” ﬁeld. • Select “Open link in a new window/tab” so the page will open in a new window / tab. • Click the “Add link” button.• If you want to link to an internal page (within your site or blog) that already exists: • Click on “Or link to existing content”. • In the “Search” ﬁeld you can enter a part of the title of the post or page you’re looking for. • Select a post or page in the list. • Only select “Open link in a new window/tab” if you really want that the page / post opens in a new window or tab, but it’s better not to do that if you link to an internal page. • Click the “Add link” button.How to edit a hyperlink?• Select the text of which you already created a hyperlink (you don’t need to select the whole text, it’s ok to just click on it once).• Click on the -button in the menu (Insert / edit link).• Do the changes you need.• Click on the “Update” button.How to remove a hyperlink?• Select the text of which you already created a hyperlink (you don’t need to select the whole text, it’s ok to just click on it once).• Click the -button (Unlink).WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 28

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Handling mediaSince WordPress 3.5, the way to insert media (images, documents) has changed a lot. For new users,it’s much more logical. For existing users however, it might be a little confusing.Inserting an imageHow to insert an image?Just above the WYSIWYG editor you’ll ﬁnd a button to insert an image:If you click this button, the following window appears:There are 3 ways to insert an image:• Upload Files: upload an image from your computer, this is the default choice• Insert from URL: use an image on the internet• Media Library: insert an image you already uploaded to your media libraryNext to that, there is also the option to create a gallery which I’ll discuss later in this guide.It’s better not to use the option “From URL”. With this option, you use an image from elsewhere onthe internet. Imagine you select an image from another website, and suddenly that image is removedby the webmaster. Then that image will not be visible anymore on your site too. And second, it’s notbecause it’s easy to use an image from another website, that you also have the right to use it on yourblog or website!WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 29

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Inserting an image from your computer: Upload Files• Click the “Upload ﬁles” button on the top (if needed):• Then, click the “Select Files” button in the middle of your screen:• Select an image from your computer. After you selected your image, you’ll get an overview of images (media) and your new image will be selected:• Now, at the right of your screen, ﬁll in a short description in the “Title” ﬁeld and the “Alt Text” ﬁeld: These ﬁelds are important for SEO!!WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 30

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• The last options are the Attachment Display Settings: Alignment: choose how you want to align your image. I prefere left (your text will be aligned next to the image) or center (your text will start under the image). Link to: what happens when a visitor clicks on your image? Choose “Custom URL” (to link to an url), “Attachment Page” (will open the image within your site), “Media File” (will show only the image in the browser) or “None” (nothing happens). Size: Select the size of your image as it will be shown in your post or page. TIP: Resize your images! Because the bigger the size of the uploaded image, the longer it takes to load that image!! Even if you select thumbnail here, the actual size of the image will be loaded. For example: if you upload an image of 500 pixels x 500 pixels, and then you select “Thumbnail” (150 pixels x 150 pixels) then yofur visitor will see the small image BUT the full image (500 pixels x 500 pixels) has to be loaded. This slows down your site a lot and that’s why it’s important to resize your images!! You’ll learn how to do this in the next part of this chapter (“Editing an image”).• Click the “Insert into Post” button to insert the image:Once you inserted an image, that image is also uploaded to your media library.Inserting an image that you already uploaded: Media GalleryInserting an image from the media library works actually the same way as inserting an image fromyour computer. The only difference is that you have to select “Media Gallery”:If you already inserted an image, this will already be selected.Now you’ll see the following screen with an overview of all images on your site:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 31

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Note the “Search” box on the top right. If you have hundreds of images, this is an important tool toquickly ﬁnd the right image.Now select the image you want to insert:You can do this by clicking on the image.TIP: Hold down the “Shift” button, you can even select multiple images.Don’t forget to ﬁll in “Title” ﬁeld, “Alt Text” ﬁeld and the Attachment Display Settings on the right beforeinserting the image!Editing an imageThere are at least 3 ways to edit an image.1) Edit your image on your computer with software like Photoshop or GIMP (a free alternative for Photoshop) before uploading.2) Edit your image with the built-in editor in WordPress3) Edit the appearance of your image in a post or page.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 32

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I’m not going to describe the ﬁrst option, because this would take me to far. But the other 2 optionscan be done within WordPress, so let’s take a look how to do this!Edit your image with the built-in editor in WordPressIf you just need to resize or crop an image, you don’t need extra software like Photoshop or GIMP.WordPress has a built-in editor who can do this.There are 2 ways to ﬁnd the built-in editor:1. After you selected an image to insert in a post or page, click the “Edit image” link on the right:2. In the Media Library (select “Media” > “Library” in the left menu) select an image (click on the image you want to edit or click the “Edit” link next to that image), and then click the “Edit image” button under the image:It doesn’t matter which option you chose, the following screen will appear:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 33

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2 parts are important here:• On top you’ll ﬁnd buttons to crop, rotate and ﬂip your image:• On the right you’ll ﬁnd a link to scale the size of your image. Click on the “Scale image” link to edit the dimensions of your image: To scale the image, ﬁll in the new size of the image and click the “Scale” button.After you edited your image, click the “Save” button under the image.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 34

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Note: If you came to this screen during inserting an image into a page or a post, you also have to 1)close the active tab of your browser and to 2) click the “Refresh” link in the “Insert Media” screen thatyou’ll see:Edit the appearance of your image in a post or page• Click on the image you inserted in your post or your page.• 2 buttons appear, click on the left button (“Edit Image”):WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 35

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• The following screen appears: The most important options here are “Siize”, “Alignment” and “Title” and “Alternative Text”.• Remember, these changes don’t affect the image itself, but only change how the image will be shown.• Click the “Update” button to save your changes.Deleting an imageThere are 2 options here: you can either remove an image from your post or page, or you can deletean image from your whole site.Remove an image from a post or page• When you want to remove an image from a post or a page, just click on that image.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 36

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• 2 buttons will apear, click on the right button (“Delete image”):• The image is now removed from your post or page!Delete an image from your siteTIP: If you delete an image, be sure that you don’t use that image in a post or a page!• Go to the Media Library (Select “Media” > “Library” in the left menu)• Position the mouse cursor on the title of the image you want to delete. Under the title a couple of links apear. Click on the “Delete permanently” link:• A popup will apear. Click the “OK” button to delete the image.Creating a gallerySince version 3.5, there is also the option to insert an image gallery. Allthough possibilities are verylimited, for some this will be just ﬁne. Greating a gallery is quite easy. Let’s take a look!WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 37

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• When in a post or a page, click the “Insert Media” button:• Now, in the “Insert Media” screen, select “Create Gallery” (in the left menu):• Now, Click “Upload Files” to ﬁrst select images on your computer or select “Media Library” and select the images you want to use from your media library.• Click the “Create a new galery” button at the bottom right:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 38

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• Now you’ll enter the “Edit Gallery” screen: Here you can change the order of your images (just drag and drop the images) and there are also some settings. The most important setting is the amount of columns you want to use for your gallery. The best option for “Link to” is “Attachment page”. If you forgot an image, click the “Add to Gallery” link on the left of this screen. Click the “Insert Gallery” button at the bottom right.• Back in your post or page, you’ll see the following:• To check the result, save / update your page and previw your post or page.Editing or deleting a galleryTo edit or delete a gallery, just click on the gallery “image” in your post or page. On the top left, 2icons will apear:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 39

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To edit the gallery, click on the left icon. To remove the gallery from your post or page, click the righticon.Documents (pdf, doc, xls,...)You can insert / edit / delete media (a Word document, an Excel sheet, a PDF,...) the same way asimages. The inserted media also appears in your Media Library. TIP: If you insert a document, the best choice when selecting “Link to” (under the Attachment Display Settings”) is “Media File”.After you inserted the document, a regular text-link will be inserted in your post or page. The onlydifference is that a document will opened when a visitor clicks on that link.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 40

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PagesUsageIn most cases, pages are used for static content / general information. For example an “about” page.When using WordPress as a CMS, you’ll mainly use pages for your content.Only editors and administrators can add and edit pages.OverviewClick on “Pages” in the left menu to get an overview of all pages:Note: if you just started a new blog or site, only 1 sample page will be listed here!How to add a new pageSelect “Pages” > “Add new” in the left menu. You’ll see the following screen:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 41

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Let’s take a look at all the ﬁelds on this screen.Page Title:On top of this screen, you can choose your page title. It’s always possible to change this later.If you don’t use custom menus, then this title will also be used as a menu item in your menu. In thatcase, you have to keep the title of the page short.Under the page title, the Permalink (or URL) of the page appears after the page is saved.Adding contentThe part under the title is the place where you can insert the content trough the WYSIWYG-editor:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 42

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To ﬁnd out how this WYSIWYG editor works, please read the part about the WYSIWYG editor in thebeginning of this guide.PublishIn this part you ﬁnd the options to save, publish and delete your page. Let’s take a look at all theoptions:• Save Draft (button): save your page without publishing it on the internet.• Preview (button): preview your page in your browser.• Status: select the status of your page, “draft” or “pending review”.• Visibility: select the visibility of your page: “public”, “password protected” (visitors have to ﬁll in a password to see the content) or “private” (only visible for logged in visitors).• Publish: publish immediately or pick a date to publish your new page later.• Move to Trash: move your page to the trash, but it’s still possible to restore it from the trash.• Publish (button): click the publish button to save the page AND to publish it on the internet.Page attributesIn this part you ﬁnd some extra options. Let’s take a look at the available options:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 43

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• Parent: select the parent page of the current page. This is important when you don’t deﬁne your own menu, or when you use a breadcrumb plugin.• Template: Most themes contain multiple templates. This means you can choose a (different) page layout for this page. The number of templates depends from theme to theme. Here you can select the template for this page.• Order: ﬁll in a number for ordering your pages. You have to use this option when you don’t deﬁne a custom menu. You can also use the plugin PageMash in stead of the “Order” option. With PageMash you can drag and drop your pages to change the order of your pages.Featured image With the “Featured image” you can uplad an image that will be used with that page, depending on how it’s deﬁned in your theme. For example, a lot of themes use this option so you can easily select a header image or a thumbnail for 1 speciﬁc page.This works just the same way as inserting a regular image. Click the “Setfeatured image” button at the bottom right to set the featured image.How to edit an existing pageThere are 2 sorts of editing a page: a “regular” edit and a quick edit.Edit a page• Go to the page overview (choose “Pages” > “All pages” in the left menu)• Now you get an overview of all your existing pages. Put your cursor on a page title. Under that title some options will appearWordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 44

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• Now click on “Edit” (you could also just click on the page title to edit the page):• The selected page will be opened to edit: • You can change the content of the page • You can change the options of the page • To get the page ofﬂine, select “Status: Draft” in the “Publish” part at the right• Click the “Update” button to save the changes (or the “Save Draft” button if the page isn’t published yet).Quick edit• Go to the page overview (choose “Pages” > “All pages” in the left menu)• Now you get an overview of all your existing pages. Put your cursor on a page title. Under that title some options will appear.• Now click on “Quick Edit”:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 45

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• The following screen will appear: In this screen you can edit some of the options of this page. Click the “update” button to save the changes you made.How to delete a pageTo delete a page, you ﬁrst have to move this page to the trash. After that, you can delete a pagepermanently or restore that page.Move a page to the trash• Go to the page overview (choose “Pages” > “All pages” in the left menu)• Now you get an overview of all your existing pages. Put your cursor on a page title. Under that title some options will appear: Click on “Trash”.• The page is now moved to the trashRestore / Delete permanentlyTo restore a page or to delete a page permanently, go to Trash and put your cursor on the page titleof the page you want to restore or delete permanenty:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 46

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PostsUsageIn most cases, posts are used for blogging. But you can also use posts for a news section on yourwebsite.OverviewClick on “Posts” in the left menu to get an overview of all posts:How to add a new postSelect “Posts” > “Add new” in the left menu. You’ll see the following screen:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 48

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Let’s take a look at all the ﬁelds on this screen!Post Title:On top of this screen, you can ﬁll in your post title. It’s always possible to change this later.Under the post title, the Permalink (or URL) of the post appears after you ﬁlled in your page title.Adding contentThe part under the title is the place where you can insert the content trough the WYSIWYG-editor:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 49

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To ﬁnd out how this WYSIWYG editor works, please read the part “The WYSIWYG editor” in thebeginning of this guide.PublishIn this part you ﬁnd the options to save, publish and delete your post. Let’s take a look at the options:• Save Draft (button): save your post without publishing it on the internet.• Preview (button): preview your post in your browser.• Status: select the status of your post, “draft” or “pending review”.• Visibility: select the visibility of your post: “public” (with the option to stick the post on your front page), “password protected” (visitors have to ﬁll in a password to see the content) or “private” (only visible for logged in visitors).• Publish: publish immediately or pick a date to publish your new post.• Move to Trash: move your post to the trash, it’s still possible to restore it from the trash.• Publish (button): click the publish button to save the post AND to publish it on the internet.Format In this part you can deﬁne the format of your post. With this feature, a blogger can change how each post looks by choosing a Post Format from a radio-button list. The different post formats can differ from theme to theme.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 50

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Categories Here you can select one or more categories for your post. You’ll learn more about categories in the next part.Tags Here you can tag your article. Just ﬁll in your tag and click the “Add” button. Or you can click the “Choose from the most used tags” link to make a selection from your most used tags. You’ll learn about tags in the next part.Featured image With the “Featured image” you can uplad an image that will be used with that article, depending on how it’s deﬁned in your theme. For example, a lot of themes use this option so you can easily select a header image or a thumbnail for 1 speciﬁc page.This works just the same way as inserting a regular image. Click the “Setfeatured image” button at the bottom right to set the featured image.How to edit an existing postThere are 2 sorts of editing a post: a “regular” edit and a quick edit.Edit a page• Go to the page overview (choose “Posts” > “All posts” in the left menu)• Now you get an overview of all your existing posts. Put your cursor on a post title. Under that title some options will appearWordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 51

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• Now click on “Edit” (you could also just click on the post title to edit the page):• The selected post will be opened to edit: • You can change the content of the post • You can change the options of the post • To get the post ofﬂine, select “Status: Draft” in the “Publish” part at the right• Click the “Update” button to save the changes (or the “Save Draft” button if the post isn’t published yet).Quick edit• Go to the page overview (choose “Posts” > “All posts” in the left menu)• Now you get an overview of all your existing posts. Put your cursor on a post title. Under that title some options will appear.• Now click on “Quick Edit”:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 52

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• The following screen will appear: In this screen you can edit some of the options of this post. Click the “update” button to save the changes you made.How to delete a postTo delete a post, you ﬁrst have to move this post to the trash. After that, you can delete a postpermanently or restore that post.Move a post to the trash• Go to the page overview (choose “Posts” > “All posts” in the left menu)• Now you get an overview of all your existing posts. Put your cursor on a post title. Under that title some options will appear: Click on “Trash”.• The post is now moved to the trashRestore / Delete permanentlyTo restore a post or to delete a post permanently, go to Trash and put your cursor on the post title ofthe post you want to restore or delete permanenty:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 53

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Categories & tagsPost categoriesWhy should you use post categories?Imagine you have a blog about dogs (it’s just an example :-) ) and you wrote 100+ blog posts(articles). You probably wrote some blog posts about raising a dog, dog toys, dog food, and so on.On your blog, all those posts are ranked under each other, spread over several pages.A new visitor visits your site. He or she was looking for some information about dog toys and foundthat interesting article on your blog! After your visitor ﬁnished reading your post, he or she would liketo read more about dog toys on your blog. But because your blog posts are not categorised in anyway, that visitor can’t ﬁnd other posts about dog toys within 10 seconds, so he or she leaves yourblog without reading all your other blog posts about dog toys...This is why you should use post categories. In this example, the blogger should have made acategory “Dog toys”. This makes it easier to browse blog posts by category. On most blogs, thedifferent categories are listed on the right side of a blog (using a widget) or are listed in the menu onthe top of the blog. A visitor just clicks on a category and gets a list of all blog posts under thatcategory.How to create a new categoryChoose “Posts” > “Categories” in the left menu. You’ll see following screen:In the left part of this screen you can add a new category, at the right part you get an overview of allexisting categories. If you just installed WordPress, there is only 1 category: Uncategorized.To add a new category ﬁll in the following ﬁelds:• Name: the name of your category as it will appear on your screenWordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 55

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• Slug: name used in the url (optional, you don’t have to ﬁll this in)• Parent: if you want to create a sub category, select the parent category (optional)• Description: ﬁll in a description of the category (optional)After you ﬁlled in all the needed ﬁelds, click the “Add New Category” button. Your new category willnow appear in the right part of the screen. When adding or editing a post, the new category will alsobe available to choose from.How to deﬁne the default categoryIf you don’t select a category when adding a new post, the default category will be selected. Tochoose which category is your default category:• Choose “Settings” > “Writing” in the left menu to open the Writing Settings screen.• At “Default Post Category”, select the category you want to use as a default category (this has to be an existing category).Note, you can’t delete a category that’s selected as default category.How to choose a category?When writing a post, you can select 1 or more categories on the right:If you don’t select a category, the default category will be selected.Post tagsWhy should you use post tags?Unlike categories, tags are optional. Especially if you’re a beginner, tags can be a little confusing. ButI’ll do my best to explain why and when you can use tags.Let’s go back to your imaginary dog blog. You now have created categories, and you selected acategory for each post. But what to do when you also want to connect posts about products from acertain brand? For example a company that makes dog food and dog toys? In this case we couldWordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 56

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add that company name as a tag in our different posts, so these posts are connected over thedifferent categories.Or if you write about a certain breed of dog, you could also add that breed as a tag in that post. Thisconnects all the posts where you write about that breed, no matter under which category they fall.How to create a new tag: adding a tag through the Tags screenChoose “Posts” > “Tags” in the left menu. You’ll see following screen:In the left part of this screen you can add a new tag, at the right part you get an overview of allexisting tags.To add a new tag ﬁll in the following ﬁelds:• Name: the name of your tag as it will appear on your screen• Slug: name used in the url (optional)• Description: ﬁll in a description of the tag (optional)After you ﬁlled in all the needed ﬁelds, click the “Add New Tag” button. You’re new tag will nowappear in the right part of the screen.How to create a new tag: creating a tag in the post For tags, it’s easier to add a tag when you’re in a post. In the Tag part of your post, ﬁll in the name of the tag you want to add. If the tag doesn’t exist yet, it will be created.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 57

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Custom menusIntroductionOut of the box, WordPress automaticly adds a menu to your blog or website. This has the advantagethat you don’t have to do a thing to create a menu. The disadvantage is that it’s not user friendly toorder the menu-items, or to add a category or an external link to your menu. Of course, there areplugins to solve this, but its easier to create a custom menu.How to create a custom menuSelect “Appearance” > “Menus” in the left menu. The following screen will appear:Next, ﬁll in the name of your new menu and click the “Create Menu” button:The new menu will now appear at the right part of your screen:Let’s take a closer look:1. Click the +-tab to create a new menuWordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 58

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2. When you select the option “Automatically add new top-level pages”, new added top-level pages will be added automatically to this menu3. Click the “Delete Menu” link to delete this menu4. This is the place where your added pages, categories and links will appearHow to attach your custom menu to your themeDepending on your theme, your theme supports 1 or more custom menus. You can select whichmenu to use at which location in the “Theme Locations” part:Select the menu you want to use and click the “Save” button.Add custom links, pages and categories to your menuAdd a custom link to your menuYou can add custom links to your menu in the “Custom Links” part:Fill in an URL, a menu label and click the “Add to Menu” button to add the link to your menu.Add pages to your menuYou can add pages to your menu in the “Pages” part:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 59

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Select the page(s) you want to add to your menu and click the “Add to Menu”.Note, if the page you want to add exists and isn’t listed in the “Most Recent” tab, try the “View All” or“Search” tab.Add categories to your menuYou can add categories to your menu in the “Categories” part:Select the category / categories you want to add to your menu and click the “Add to Menu” button.Note, if the category you want to add exists and isn’t listed in the “Most Recent” tab, try the “ViewAll” or “Search” tab.How to change the order of the menu items?You can change the order of the menu items very easily:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 60

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Just hover with your cursor over a menu item, and drag this to the right place.How to create a submenu?You can also set a menu item as a subitem in the menu: just drag a menu item a little bit to the rightunder the parent page:Check out the result!How to remove a menu item?In the “Menus” screen, click on the arrow at the right of a menu item:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 61

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Then click on the “Remove” link:Don’t forget to click the “Save” button at the bottom of the screen!WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 62

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User managementIntroductionOut of the box WordPress contains a basic user management. You can create different accounts fordifferent users. Because not every user needs the same rights, there are 5 different roles.The 5 different roles in WordPress• Administrator: The administrator role has full rights to do everything.• Editor: An editor has the rights to create and edit posts and pages and can also edit posts from other users. An editor doesn’t have administrative rights.• Author: An author is able to write posts and to publish them.• Contributor: A contributor can write posts but can’t publish them.• Subscriber: A basic member of a WordPress blog. Has the same rights as a guests, but doesn’t need to log in again to react on posts.How to add a new userChoose “Users” > “Add new” in the left menu. You’ll see following screen:In this screen you have to ﬁll in the following ﬁelds:• Username (required): the username of the new user• E-mail (required): the e-mail address of the new user• First Name: ﬁll in the user’s ﬁrst name• Last Name: ﬁll in the user’s last name• Website: here you can ﬁll in the url of the user’s website• Password (twice, required): choose a strong password for your new user• Send Password: Do you want to send the password to your user? (I always leave this option unchecked)• Role: select a role for your new userWordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 63

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After you ﬁlled in all the ﬁelds, click the “Add New User” to create the new user.Tip: create at least 2 user accountsFor security reasons it’s better to create at least 2 user accounts:• 1 administrator: for installation and conﬁguration of WordPress, users, themes, plugins,...• 1 editor: for creating and editing the contentFor security reasons NEVER use “admin” or “administrator” as an account name. If created bydefault, create a new administrator user and delete the original one. The reason for this is that hackerswho want to hack your blog, will ﬁrst try to break in with “admin” or “administrator”.How to extend the basic user management?For most of us, the basic user management offered by WordPress will be perfect. However, if youneed to extend the existing roles, or if you want to create new roles, then you could install UserAccess Manager plugin.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 64

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WordPress ThemesHow WordPress themes workIn WordPress, the content is not really related with the design. You can switch from theme withouttouching the content. So if you want a new design but you want to keep your content, you just haveto install a new theme!There’s a lot of choice out there!One of the great advantages of WordPress is that there are a so many layout options to choose from.There are free themes, commercial themes, frameworks or you could even create your own themefrom scratch!Free themesYou can ﬁnd a lot of free themes on the internet. In a lot of cases, free themes are great to discoverWordPress, or if you have a tight budget. But don’t worry, a lot of these themes are from good quality.The best source to start searching for a free theme is the list of the most popular free WordPressthemes at the ofﬁcial WordPress website.Tip: A free theme could also be a good start to create your own theme.Commercial themesCommercial themes are often named “Premium themes”. In general, commercial themes offer a lotmore possibilities and better support.Also here there are several options.If you just want an out of the box solution that looks (very) professional, you should take a look atThemeforest and WooThemes. I’ve used themes from both, also for my clients’ sites, just because it’sso easy and cheap. You just pick a theme you like, and then there are still a lot of options topersonalise the theme. From those 2, I prefer Themeforest because there are so many themes tochoose from! Prices vary but most themes cost between $45 and $55.Another option is a WordPress Framework. This option is great for developers who want to createtheir own (child) theme on top of a framework. 2 of the most popular frameworks are Genesis andThesis. StudioPress (creator of Genesis) also sells out of the box child themes for their Genesisframework. This means you have he power of the framework combined with a ready to use theme.Create your own theme (coding / slicing)Coding your own theme is the most ﬂexibel way to create a theme. Creating your own theme withWordPress is easier then you might think. The only downside is that it just takes more time.If you’re interested in coding your own theme, consider using a WordPress framework like Genesis.This will make it much easier to create a secure and powerful theme.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 65

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Another technique that’s used a lot is slicing. In this case, you design your theme in Photoshop andsend it to a slicing company (you could also do this yourself if you’re good in creating your ownWordPress themes). The slicing company will develop a WordPress theme of your Photoshop design.Installing a themeThere are 3 ways to upload and install a theme in WordPress:• Using FTP• Upload a theme trough the WordPress Dashboard• Select a free theme through the WordPress DashboardFor most users, using the WordPress Dashboard will be the easiest way.Using FTP• Download your theme to your computer• Upload this theme to you web hosting (using FTP) into the folder “wp-content” > “themes”• Log in in the back end of your WordPress blog or site and select “Appearance” > “Themes” in the left menu• You’ll ﬁnd your new theme in the list of available themes:• Click under a theme on “Activate”• Visit the home page of your blog or site to see the resultUpload a theme through the WordPress dashboard Note: You need this option if you buy a commercial theme.• Download a theme to your computer• Select “Appearance” > “Themes” (1)• Click the “Install themes” tab (2)• click the “Upload” link (3)WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 66

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• Select a Zip ﬁle on your computer and click the “Install Now” button (4)• After the theme has installed, click on the “Activate” link:• Visit the home page of your blog or site to see the result!Select a free theme through the WordPress dashboardTip: ﬁrst go to www.wordpress.org/extend/themes/ and search for a theme you like.• Select “Appearance” > “Themes” (1)• Click the “Install themes” tab (2) and then the “Search” link (3)• Fill in the name of the theme or the author and click the “Search” button (4)• The following screen with search results will appear:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 67

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• Click the “Install” link under the theme you want to install:• After the theme has installed, click the “Live Preview” link to see a preview of the result or the “Activate” link to apply the theme.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 68

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WidgetsWhat’s a widget?Widgets are small applications / extensions you can place in a space provided on your blog orwebsite. This is usually a column left or right on the page (where also the menu is located) or a spaceat the bottom of the blog or website. The number of spaces to place widgets is limited and dependson the used theme.ExamplesSome examples will clarify the potential of widgets. There are widgets to:• show all the pages or categories of a blog or website• just ﬁll in some text• display your latest tweets from Twitter• show adds• ...How to activate a widget?• Select “Appearance” > “Widgets” in the left menu• Drag a widget from the central screen to a widget space right:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 69

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PluginsWhat’s a plugin?In my opinion, plugins are the real power of WordPress!Plugins are small “programs” giving you the possibility to extend the functionalities of a basicWordPress installation. Most plugins can be downloaded and installed for free.Today, there are already thousands of plugins available. So if you want to extend your blog or websitewith a certain functionality, you may be sure there is probably a plugin for that.Find a pluginFree pluginsThe search for free plugins can be done best through the website of WordPress itself. A goodindicator for good plugins is the popularity. So it’s a good idea to explore the list of the most popularplugins:http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/browse/popular/You can also use the search box:http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/Commercial pluginsNext to free plugins, there are also commercial plugins. A great place to ﬁnd commercial plugins isCodecanyon.net. On this site you can ﬁnd several scripts for developpers, but also easy to use WordPress plugins!How to install a plugin?Search and install a plugin through the back endYou can install most of the plugins through the WordPress Dashboard:WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 70

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• Select “Plugins” > “Add New” in the left menu (1)• On top of this page, click on the “Search” link (2)• In the search box, ﬁll in (a part of) the name of the plugin and click the “Search Plugins” button (3)• You will then receive a list of search results:• Once you found the plugin where you were looking for in the search results list, click the “Install Now” link. You’ll get a pop up for conﬁrmation. Click the “OK” button.• After the plugin installed succesfully, click the “Activate plugin” link.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 71

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• Don’t forget to conﬁgure the plugin.Upload and install a plugin through the back endSome plugins can only be downloaded to your computer from the author’s website. In most cases,these are commercial plugins. Luckily WordPress has a built-in function to upload and installdownloaded plugins.• Select “Plugins” > “Add New” in the left menu.• Click the “Upload” link:• Select a ZIP-ﬁle on your computer and click the “Install” button.• After the plugin installed succesfully, click the “Activate now” link.• Don’t forget to conﬁgure the plugin.How to conﬁgure a pluginBefore we can use a plugin, you ﬁrst have to conﬁgure it. This means there are still some settings thathave to be conﬁgured. This depends from plugin to plugin: some plugins just have a few settings,other plugins have a lot more settings.My favourite pluginsAfter 4 years of working with WordPress, I tried and used several plugins. This is my selection ofWordPress plugins I use for the moment. For this selection, I only use plugins that are well supported.Free plugins are great, but sometimes support stops after a while because the author just doesn’thave the time anymore to update the plugin.AkismetOne of the best (and maybe just the best) ways to protect your blog against spam comments isAkismet. This plugin is made by the company behind WordPress, Automattic. You have to subscribefor this service but it’s free for non-commercial usage. Pricing for commercial users is very reasonable.If you need more information about Akismet, here’s a short tutorial on my blog, WPBrix.com.More information about Akismet.JetpackWith Jetpack (this plugin is also from the company behand WordPress) you can use some of thegreatest functions of WordPress.com on your self-hosted WordPress blog. This plugin combinesseveral functions. You don’t need to use them all, just select the one you need.Most of them are free, except VaultPress.More information about Jetpack.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 72

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Google AnalyticatorWith Google Analyticator you can easily integrate Google Analytics within your WordPress blog. Thereare many plugins to do this, but this is one of the best and it’s very well maintained.More information about Google Analyticator.WordPress SEO by YoastThere are many (good!) free SEO plugins to enhance SEO of your blog. But WordPress SEO by Yoastis my favourite because it’s so complete. I used to use a combination of All In One SEO Pack andGoogle XML Sitemaps, but WordPress SEO by Yoast has all those features in 1 plugin (and evenmuch more) and in my opinion it’s a bit more user-friendly.More information about WordPress SEO by Yoast.Better WP SecurityIn my opinion, Beter WP Security is a must have plugin. This free (!) plugin secures your WordPressblog or site in seconds. For a detailed guide about the functions of this plugin check the followingtutorial on my blog: How to Secure WordPress with Better WP Security.More information about Better WP Security.WP Super Cache + WP MinifyInstalling a caching plugin is an easy way to boost the speed of your blog or site. There are couple ofcaching plugins, but the combination of WP Super Cache + WP Minify is a very easy option withsuperb results. These plugins are free, so you shouldn’t hesitate to install them.You can ﬁnd a more detailed tutorial on my blog: How to Conﬁgure WP Super Cache & WP Minify.More information about WP Super Cache.More information about WP Minify.WP Smush.itWhen uploading images to WordPress, most of the time there’s still some room for optimization ofyour images. WP Smush.it reduces ﬁle size with better performance as a result. And all that in just acouple of clicks...More information about WP Smush.itWPML (commercial)If you need to translate your blog or site, then WPML is the best plugin to do this. Usage is very easy,and this plugin is supported by a lot of themes. Pricing is rather cheap because this plugin will saveyou a lot of time.More information about WPML.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 73

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Contact Form 7If you need to extend your blog or site with forms, then I can highly recommend Contact Form 7. Withthis plugin, you can easily create multiple forms for your blog.You can ﬁnd a step by step tutorial about Contact Form 7 on my blog WPBrix.com.More information about Contact Form 7.Gravity Forms (commercial)In my opinion, Gravity Forms is the best plugin to create forms for your WordPress blog or site. Formy job, I create forms (using php / jQuery / Javascript) all the time. But when working on a WordPressproject, I only use Gravity Forms. It’s amazing how simple it is to create extended forms. The only“downside” is that this plugin isn’t for free. But believe me, this plugin is really worth the price!You can ﬁnd a Gravity Forms beginner’s tutorial on my blog WPBrix.com.More information about Gravity Forms.NextGEN GalleryThere are a couple of great gallery plugins (there’s even one built in WordPress), but NextGEN Galleryis one of the oldest and is also very complete. Once conﬁgured, it’s easy to add and to managemultiple galleries.You can ﬁnd a tutorial for beginners on my blog WPBrix.com.More information about NextGEN Gallery.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 74

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How to conﬁgure WordPress as a CMSToday, WordPress is also used very often as a CMS (Content Management System). Why? Becauseit’s so easy to set-up, and also because it’s so easy to update the content.What is a CMS?A Content Management System is a a site with a back-end where you can add, update and deletethe content of your site. Just as WordPress does.While WordPress used to be a blogging platform, more and more webdesigners switched toWordPress because it is so ﬂexible. And that’s why the WordPress developers made it so easy toconﬁgure it as a CMS.Why should you use WordPress as a CMS?Using WordPress as a CMS has the same advantages as using WordPress as a blog:• It’s easy to install and conﬁgure• WordPress is open source software (so it’s free to use)• Google loves WordPress (which is very important!)• Creating and updating content is very easy, you don’t need any technical knowledge• It’s very ﬂexible: there are thousands of plugins and themes• Developers can also easily change / add codeCongﬁguring WordPress as a CMSIt’s very easy to conﬁgure WordPress as a CMS. Actually, there’s only 1 (!) step necessary.The big difference between a blog and a site (CMS) is that a site has a static front page, while a bloghas listed it’s latest blog posts *. So all really you have to do is setting up a page as front page andchange the disscussion settings.* I want to add a little sidenote to this: more and more the difference between a blog and a CMS isfading away. Let me explain this: today, a lot of sites are adding a blog page to their site because thisis great for attracting new visitors (and clients!) through search engines. On the other hand, blogs aregetting more professional so some of them are adding a static front page with information about theblog / blogger. And of course, you’ll also ﬁnd a list with the latest blog posts on that front page.Setting up a page as front page• First create a page you want to use as your front page• Open the “Reading Settings” screen (select “Settings” > “Reading” in the left menu)WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 75

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• Under “Front page displays” you choose “A static page”, and then you select a page as front page and a page as posts page:• Click the “Save Changes”Change the discussion settingsBecause we are building a website, not every page will need the possibility to let our visitors leavecomments. That’s why I advise to disable the discussion settings of the whole website. Afterwards,you can always enable comments for a particular page or post.How to do his:• Go to “Settings” > “Discussion” in the left menu• Deselect “Allow people to post comments on new articles”:• Click the “Save changes” button on the bottom of this page.If you want to change the discussion settings for each page or post, follow these steps:• Click on “Posts” or “Pages” in the left menu. Now you’ll see the posts or pages overview• Place your cursor on the title of the post or page, and under that title a couple of options will appear• Click on “Quick edit”• Select or deselect the option “Allow comments” and click the “Update”-buttonInstalling the “White Label CMS” pluginIf you’re crating websites for clients, then you’ll know the basic WordPress dashboard is toocomplicated for your clients. With the White Label CMS plugin you can choose which menu optionsyour clients will see. You can also include your own message in the dashboard screen. Other featuresare the possibility to include your own logo’s (in the login screen, in the dashboard).More information about White Label CMS.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 76

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WordPress securityIntroductionI know, “Security” sounds like something very complicated. And I thought just the same when I juststarted using WordPress. But actually, it’s not that hard to secure WordPress.The following tips won’t guarantee your WordPress installation will be secure for 100%. BUT, you’llmake it much harder for hackers to hack your site. For must of us, that’s more then enough. Mosthackers won’t try to break through a good secured site, because there are enough sites which aren’tsecure. To understand this better, you must know that most hackers hack for the money. In mostcases they just want to hack “a site” to take over control of that server or computer. If you havecontrol over lots of servers and computers, then you have power. And that’s what they sell, controlover thousands of computers / servers.Simply said: if it’s too hard to hack your site, they will just pass by and try the next one, because it’snot worth it to try for a long time.WordPress basic security principlesWordPress security embraces many things: it’s about picking the right user name, a strong password,updating WordPress and all the plugins to their latest versions. These things are all not difﬁcult to do,but they will help a lot!Picking the right administrator user nameDuring installation, you have to pick a user name for the administrator account of your site or blog. It’simportant you don’t choose an easy to guess user name, like “admin” or “administrator”. Because thisis one of the things hackers try ﬁrst!Create a second user for updating the contentIt’s a mistake a lot of bloggers make, they blog with their administrator user. Don’t do this! Use an“editor” user for this. In the case a hacker retrieves the password of the user you’re using to blog, theycan log in as an editor and can change / delete the content, but they can’t change / delete your blogor site.Choosing a strong passwordDon’t pick an easy password, but use a strong password containing:• letters• capital letter(s)• numbers• special characters• don’t choose a short passwordWordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 77

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Changing the table preﬁxDuring installation, WordPress gives you the choice to change the preﬁx of your database tables. Bydefault, this is “WP_”. By doing this you make it very hard for hackers to guess your table names.Updating WordPress and all its plugins to latest versionsThis easy step is also a very important step. When a new version of WordPress is released, it doesn’tonly add new features, but it also resolves bugs and patches security issues. That’s why it’s VERYimportant to always have the latest version of WordPress. The same goes for plugins.For more information and a short tutorial about updating WordPress, you can read the following articleon my blog: How to update WordPress.Taking WordPress security to another level with the help of some pluginsYou already learned that you can add extra features to your WordPress blog or site by installingplugins. Also for security, there are several plugins which you can install. The 2 plugins I want to showyou are Akismet and Better WP Security.AkismetAkismet will protect you blog against spam comments.Once your blog starts to get popular, you’ll also receive more spam comments on your blog posts. Infact, most blog comments are spam! Because it takes a lot of time to remove all those spamcomments, I advise you to install and conifugre Akismet.Once it’s installed and conﬁgured, Akismet will protect your blog against spam comments.Autamatically!Better WP SecurityBetter WP Security is a plugin which enhances protection of your blog a lot. It’s one plugin thatincludes a lot of enhancements. Let’s take a look at the most important features of Better WPSecurity:• Database backup• Limit login attempts• Block blacklistes users and servers• ...Read the following blog post on WPBrix.com for more information about Better WP Security.Securing WordPress like a proFor most users the above (free) solutions will be more then enough. But if you run a professional blog,you also might consider the following paid services.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 78

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VaultPressVaultPress is made by Automattic, the people behind WordPress. VaultPress is a subscription-basedsecurity and backup service for WordPress sites. VaultPress isn’t cheap (pricing starts at $15 / month)but they’re one of the best backup services around.For more information, visit vaultpress.com.SucuriSucuri is a web service containing 3 core services:• Monitoring• Alerting• RemovalThis means they focus on hackers and malware. The WordPress plugin also contains a WebApplication Firewall! Sucuri also works for other platforms (Drupal, Joomla,...).Pricing is reasonable: protecting 1 site costs $89.99 / year. You can ﬁnd more information about theirpricing plans here.For more information, visit sucuri.net.WPEngineWPEngine offers managed WordPress hosting. This means they pre-install WordPress and a selectionof plugins, and also update WordPress and these plugins if needed. This makes you always have thelatest version without having to do this yourself.But that’s not all. WPEngine also takes care of security of your blog. They manage backups, there’s aweb application ﬁrewall, and they scan your site for malware.Prices start at $29 and for the beginning blogger this might seem high, but you also get a lot: fasthosting, backups, a malware scanner, a ﬁrewall and ﬁrst class support! If you count this all together,WPEngines is priced very reasonable!Be sure to also read my WPEngine review, because it also includes a speed test!For more information, visit wpengine.comMore WordPress securityYou can ﬁnd more security-related articles on my blog WPBrix.com:• Essential WordPress Security Guide for Beginners• How to Secure WordPress with Better WP Security• WordPress Hosting: WPEngine ReviewWordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 79

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Recommended booksIf you want to learn more about WordPress, (business) blogging or SEO, then you should take a lookat the following books. This is just a small selection of all the books I read about WordPress andblogging.WordPress for Dummies Join the millions of bloggers who rely on WordPress, the popular and free blogging platform. This guide covers all the features and improvements in the most up-to-date version of WordPress. Whether you are switching to WordPress from another blogging platform or just starting your ﬁrst blog, youll ﬁnd lots of advice in this friendly guide. With this easy-to-follow book, you?ll be able to take full advantage of the ﬂexibility and usability of WordPress.Written by WordPress expert Lisa Sabin-Wilson, this guide helps bloggers take advantage quickly andeasily of everything this popular blogging tool has to offer.More information about WordPress for DummiesWordPress Cookbook Using the WordPress Content Management System, you can create a beautiful, dynamic, and amazing website. WordPress is a ﬂexible and powerful tool thats ideal for creating both blog and non-blog websites. Are you feeling limited with WordPress, or are you wondering how popular blogs do a certain kind of thing that you cant? WordPress 3 Cookbook focuses on providing solutions to common WordPress problems so that you can translate your site to one of the best. The authors experience with WordPress enables him to share insights on using WordPress effectively, in a clear and friendly way, giving practical hands-on solutions to WordPress problems, questions, and common tasks -from themes to widgets and from SEO to security.With this update to the WordPress 2.7 cookbook, you will learn many WordPress 3 secrets andtechniques, with step-by-step, useful recipes dedicated to achieving a particular goal or solving aparticular problem.You will learn to install and customize themes, work with plugins, customize content display, enhanceinteractivity with the user and build communities. Then, the book also teaches you to earn revenuethrough online sales and advertisements. You will also ﬁnd recipes for SEO and enhancing usability,and the book ﬁnally winds up with information on the inevitable maintenance and security.WordPress for Beginners, the missing Guide! by WPBrix.com 80